Wednesday, 24 May 2006

So the lacewing larvae arrived yesterday and I put them on the apple trees -- hopefully there are out there eating the aphids now... I apologise for these boring photos -- I tried to take a photo of the larvae, but they are so small that I couldn't get the camera to focus on them!

In other news, it's been raining a lot, so I'm having a clear out of my records. If you want to buy something (or just gawk at what records I for some unknown reason used to own) have a look on eBay.

Wednesday, 17 May 2006

So the strawberry plants are starting to flower, and we are removing the flowers (de-blossoming it's called) as the plants went in rather late and we want them to put their strength into growing, not producing flowers. I have been rather unscientifically just cutting the flowers off with a scissor -- does anybody know what the right way to do this is?

This was sunrise the other day -- I actually spend a fair amount of time taking pictures of sunsets, sunrises, fog, rain, and other such things, but most of the photos never make it here because digital cameras are crap for this kind of stuff! Long live film!

This is an odd one -- I was heading out -- the door to our porch is glass -- and thought something looked odd but couldn't work out what -- and then I realised there was a snail underside in my face on the other side of the glass! (Snails were harmed shortly after the making of this photo when I removed it from the door and killed it...)

Ah, the waterglass saga... In case you are one of the lucky people who has not had to listen to me going on about this endlessly for weeks now, this autumn I am going to attempt to preserve some of my eggs in waterglass so that I can have eggs in the winter when the hens stop laying. My friend Angela found me a lovely glazed terracotta container at the antiques place and her husband David made me a lovely wooden lid for it -- all that was left was for me to buy some waterglass to fill it with...

Started looking on the internet, as you do. Found an old news article which pointed me to a company that wanted about £50 for one litre! Went in the pharmacy in town to see if they could get me some -- nope, their supplier doesn't carry it anymore. Emailed Ascott Smallholding Supplies to inquire if they knew where I could get some and was told that it's not licensed for food use anymore -- which is NOT true -- I have an email from the Food Standards Agency saying that it is perfectly safe for food use -- and then when I emailed the guy at Ascott Smallholding Supplies back he came out with all sorts ofirrelevantt crap... And finally I found a pottery supply company who has sold me what I estimate is enough waterglass for about three years for under £20... I think I will start putting eggs in it in August or September so watch this space for further details.

...apple blossoms...

...pretty pink flowers...

I think this is the clematis at it's best -- it has been raining rather hard for several hours now and it is losing petals...

...odd looking rhubarb flowers...

...and the dreaded aphids... 500 lacewing larvae are presently on their way so these aphids should be eaten by the weekend... :)

Saturday, 6 May 2006

These are Spanish Bluebells, which are pretty, but bad, according to Martha, "Despite their name, Spanish Bluebells can be found throughout Europe. British gardeners regard them warily, however, because the plants endanger native English Bluebells through interbreeding." So maybe I should take them out?

UPDATE: Apparently, they are not cowslips -- rather they are lungwort. Thanks to David & Angela for putting me straight... :)

The cherry trees are in blossom now as well. Last year, we had cherries, and I stood in the field and ate about three -- they were delicious -- and then I planned to pick the rest of them the following day. When I went out the next day with my ladder they were all gone -- the birds had them. So this year, as soon as they are ready, they are mine!

The miracle Clematis is flowering now...

And taking over the house!

And the blueberry plants that Greg's parents bought us last year are flowering, so hopefully this means we will have some blueberries! Yummy!

Thursday, 4 May 2006

So the big news today is this: I was working in the yard and this car pulls up and the couple in it get out and they are looking for somebody I don't know to buy Black Rock hens from! Well, I couldn't give them directions unfortunately, but the thing about these hens we took in -- we now have WAY too many eggs, the hen house is getting a bit cramped, and I don't plan to breed from them -- so I thought, they want to buy them, why not sell them? So I did, and my hens are now off to a new life in Gwynfe. It does look oddly empty looking up the field now, but I think we will all be happier for it...

In other news: We have finally finished building the greenhouse! Yay! Now we just need to sort out the drainage around it so the water goes somewhere convenient when it rains. My favourite bit of the greenhouse is the automatic vents -- they automatically open and close the windows to maintain the temperature inside!

We finished planting the apple trees -- or, the ones we're going to plant this year that is -- there will be more in future!

And I have continued to cook lots of things involving eggs! Cauliflower Cheese Pie (this is REALLY yummy -- I am going to have some leftovers of it as soon as I finish this post):

And egg fried rice (also very yummy and easy to make!):

My father has commented that my photos have got boring recently so will try to take more interesting photos in future...